Quick note on Worcester School Committee meetings this week

 There are actually three!

• on Wednesday at 5, there's a Teaching, Learning, and Student Success meeting; the agenda isn't up yet, but expect that today now posted: preK, gifted programming, and the "modern classroom" project
  
  
  
• on Thursday, there's the regular meeting of the full Committee (exec at 5; public session thereafter). The report of the Superintendent is on future ready learning, which you might remember is a part of the Vision of a Learner adopted last year. 
  Without going into a lot of detail, note that Biancheria's student safety center item was held from the last meeting. There's a public petition (though without the petition itself, so we don't know who from) on installing electric charging meters for the public in the Forest Grove parking lot (the petition language says "free of charge" though the backup does not, nor does it mention the cost of electricity). The student advisory has submitted an item on staff mental health support. There are a number of grants for approval: homeless student supports, two on supporting community childcare, Perkins (which is voke money) for software management and a robot,  and a history field trip. 
  There's a request for an easement for Verizon at Doherty.
  Biancheria wants a report on therapy dogs, and one on homeschooling.
  Guardiola wants a report "on school meals and nutrition including current vendors used by the Worcester Public Schools."
  The administration is sharing the city's annual other post-employment benefits (OPEB) report.
  And on the agenda for approval ahead of the April deadline is the district's three year Student Opportunity Act plan.
  FWIW, I won't be at this, as I have a meeting to present at that evening.
  
  
• There's also a legislative breakfast--you might remember this being proposed in February by Member McCullough on Friday morning at Worcester Tech (and yes, that's a posted meeting); no agenda posted as yet. 

The Worcester School Committee meets November 1

You can find the agenda here.
There are a number of recognitions, including a request for a letter (a letter?) to congratulate Elm Park on exiting Level 4 status.

First up, the report of the superintendent is the accountability report. If you follow state reports, a lot of this will look familiar, as Worcester's doing something valuable here: more than half the presentation is explaining how the accountability system has changed. (More of this!) To do this, they've essentially swiped the DESE slides in walking through how it has shifted (this is not an easy thing to explain; I'll be interested in how it goes!) for the first half. The second half is Worcester data and (sigh...how about we don't do this) comparing Worcester results with other urbans. What I don't see here--I'll be interested to see if it comes up--is some discussion of what in particular are the areas of needed focus within the district and school by school.

The Administration is forwarding "for informational purposes" (hmph) job descriptions for two new positions: Assistant Director of Finance and Operations for Nutrition and Marketing, Communication, Initiative and Outreach Coordinator. There's no public backup.

The administration has given the Perkins grant allocation, as requested.

The ongoing saga of chasing homeschooling families around on paperwork has a response back from administration. By my read, the form doesn't appear to agree with what's said in the report, for starters. 

The administration has responded to the request that administration clarify with staff participation in the electoral process by...sending them back the committee-approved policy GBI.

Miss McCullough is seeking a possible policy on lunches (the length of them, particularly in elementary schools); a review of IT password creation and security; and a review of the recess policy "to ensure it is being adhered to districtwide" (that's school committee agenda-speak for "it isn't; let's fix that").

Mr. O'Connell is asking about possibly renting modular classrooms for Burncoat Prep (This would be additional modulars, as Burncoat Prep already has several).

There are also donations:

• $1381.09 to Worcester Arts Magnet School from the Parent Teacher Group for the purchase of a new water fountain 
• $1090.00 to Tatnuck Magnet School from various donors through fundraising efforts 
• $2500.00 to the Worcester Public Schools from DonorsChoose.org 

...and prior fiscal year items:

• in the amount of $7,724.18 to Wheelabator Millbury, Inc.
• in the amount of $238.39 to Home Depot Credit Services.
• in the amount of $241.65 to Northeast Electrical Distributors.
• in the amount of $172.50 to Signet Electronic Systems, Inc.

There is a 6pm posting for an executive session for collective bargaining with Tradesmen, Plumbers and Steamfitters, and Aides.

Worcester School Committee "Community and Schools Forum" at Worcester State

I'm blogging tonight from the "Community and Schools Forum" at Worcester State University tonight. It's co-sponsored by the Latino Education Institute, Adelante, CENTRO, Southeast Asian Coalition, and African Community Education. This is a good one, because Worcester is a majority children of color system; the stats for last year are: 

Enrollment by Race/Ethnicity (2016-17)
Race	% of District	% of State
African American	15.4	8.9
Asian	7.4	6.7
Hispanic	41.8	19.4
Native American	0.2	0.2
White	31.1	61.3
Native Hawaiian, Pacific Islander	0.0	0.1
Multi-Race, Non-Hispanic	4.1	3.4

Worcester has--and will continue to have, regardless of the results of the November election--an entirely white school committee.

Perkins funding

O'Connell notes that it's a well prepared grant
Biancheria notes that we were informed by a letter from the Governor, which is not what usually happens...yes, the new administration is sending out letters on DESE grants directly...
vote to accept

Worcester School Committee meets this afternoon

As it is a summer meeting, please note that it starts at 4 pm. Also, it has been MOVED to the Durkin Administration building, 4th floor. You can find the agenda here.
We're starting off with a couple of recognitions: WEDF and the Worcester Cultural Coalition, and Hanover Insurance and Harkins Community Consulting.
There is no report of the superintendent.
Teaching, Learning, and Student Supports is reporting out on their June 23 meeting.
We have LOTS of congratulations and recognitions: AbbVie for the Burncoat Middle library; Nelson Place for a "Healthy Lunch for a Healthier Me" art contest win; Nelson Place for their donations to the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp; Harvard Pilgrim, for their mini-grant to Thorndyke Road; Good Sports and Snapple for athletic equipment to Doherty; and the Department of Public Health, the Community Connections summer program; the Facilities Department, and the Hector Reyes House for their work on the Joint Use Agreement.
We have a $25.00 donation from Target to accept for Tatnuck Magnet.
We have our annual item to make FY16 budget transfers as required (which will go to F&O for our quarterly reports).
We're being asked to accept a donation totally $5000 for the Healthy Start awards for the Breakfast in the Classroom schools that received the EOS awards.
Mr. O'Connell is asking to review the teacher climate survey.
He also wants to "formulate a plan for restoration of the pool at South High Community School" (which is still on top of the school's electrical plant).
Miss Ramirez is asking that we work with the administation on strategic planning and goal setting.
The administration is sending our annual audit of the student activities funds to F&O.
Mr. O'Connell wants to look at redoing the Worcester East Middle auditorium.
He also wants to look at expanding grade 6 programming at middle schools.
Mr. O'Connell also wants to schedule (another) groundbreaking for Nelson Place. Silly season, people.
The administration is sending consideration of participating in Community Eligibility to provide free lunch to all students to F&O for consideration. Good coverage of this by Scott O'Connell today.
We're being asked to accept a grant of $135,000 for early childhood work with Head Start; it will pay for two teachers and two teacher assistants for extended day and family support.
We're being asked to accept a grant of $55,940 from the Perkins Act; it looks like it's going to purchase diesel equipment for South and welding equipment at Tech.

Emerging Issues: engaging your community to action

Deborah Rigsby: NSBA federal advocacy
ESEA issue brief has comparison of current law with Kline bill (passed by House in 2013) with Alexander proposal with NSBA position

TLSS meets today at 5:30

You can find the agenda here.
Notes as they're needed.

"not expecting any immediate impact on any of our programs during the short term"

Confirmation today from Chief Financial and Operations Officer Brian Allen that we are okay short term in the shutdown:

In summary, MA DESE indicated that the majority of the federal awards was appropriated last year by the federal government and has been fully authorized the federal cash draw system. The only exceptions are the October 2013 installments for Title I, Title IIA, IDEA, and Perkins awards and Nutrition awards. If there is a delay in receiving the October award letters, there will be a corresponding delay in ESE's ability to increase the current grants to LEAs to the full year amount. USED has announced it is prioritizing the obligation of their October installments and we are hopeful that districts will not experience a disruption of their full 2013-14 school year awards.

With regards to Head Start, their notification indicates that they will continue processing grant drawdown request during the shutdown. Since we have received our grant award for this year prior to the gap in funding, we may continue to draw funds from prior awards during an appropriations lapse.

Therefore, we are not expecting any immediate impact on any of our programs during the short term. If the federal government shutdown is prolonged (several months), this may pose funding challenges in the future. 

Accountability: committee report

Perkins funding report
  Motion made to explore an agricultural program
also consider adding more Chapter 74 funding
PARCC (is coming); report made by Mr. Walton on technology needs
this is staying in the committee so we can continue to receive reports on PARCC as this rolls out
O'Connell: "not tamper with success" of Goddard Scholars program

Chapter 74 and Perkins funded courses

Novick asks about the discontinuation of the agriculture program a few years ago due to lack of interest; with YouthGROW, NOFA conference, community gardens, much farming happening within Worcester right now. Any inquiries for an ag program?
Brenner: not as yet, but sees the need. Willing to explore with community. Would need to look for appropriate placement

Meetings coming up this week

Coming up this week:

• The Standing Committee on Accountability and Student Achievement is meeting on Tuesday at 5:30 on the fourth floor of DAB. You can find the agenda here...oops, link's not working. We're talking about Perkins funding, getting an update on the PARCC assessment, discussing the Goddard Scholars program, and getting a report on student transfers. If you have an interest on any of these issues, I'd urge you to come.
• The City Council meets on Tuesday at 7 pm at City Hall, and our facilities projects are on their agenda (Wait. Except they're not?) for approval to go to MSBA, as they are due on April 10. So, let's get back to you on that?
• The Massachusetts School Building Authority board is considering voting Nelson Place into the feasibility stage of rehab/rebuild on Wednesday morning. I'll be there and blogging it!
• The Worcester School Committee meets on Thursday at 7 pm at City Hall to consider budget priorities. The agenda is here, and as you can see, that is the entire agenda. The backup is the budget presentation we had at the joint F&O/Education meeting at Nelson Place. Please do be in touch with us with your thoughts on FY14!
• Next Saturday, CPPAC is holding their annual Parent/Guardian Expo at Holy Cross in the Hogan Center from 9-1. There will be informational tables on school and community programs, seminars, raffles, and entertainment provided by Worcester Public Schools students. It's free, and you can bring your kids! 

Chapter 74 in accountability

We've got a report here on Chapter 74 (Chapter 74 is the chapter of the Mass General Laws that covers state funding for vocational education) and non-Chapter 74 career and technical programs in WPS.
O'Connell "trades that in the past would have been in the very heart and soul of vocational education" numbers are lower in ninth grade
is it that they haven't yet decided? Or are these trades falling off?
Perda: would be interesting to look at more data on this; would be happy to share that with us
"maybe we need to educate our students" from O'Connell
Novick: numbers lower in traditional trades; are we fulfilling our responsibilities with Perkins and Chapter 74 funding in training a workforce?
can we/ do we give kids information they need in order to make good decisions about the jobs that are needed (as many are in these trades)?
do some of these non-chapter 74 programs need to be spun up to Chapter 74? Can we do that?
Biancheria: students not accepted at Tech concerned that they can't get career training in high school
asks for a breakdown by site
comment here on popularity of robotics teams; connection with engineering
Perda offers to have Mr. Brenner come in for the next meeting
"not specific to our technical school...have the interest of expanding our comprehensive high schools"
"in line with our employment statistics across our city...what is actually the job market, what's the field?"
item held at subcommittee level